Anthony DiComo's Mets MLBlog

Reports: The sun will come out, Minaya will remain GM

Mets general manager Omar Minaya received some public support from principal owner Fred Wilpon today. Asked by a New York Port reporter at a function in Connecticut if Minaya would remain GM next season, Wilpon quipped: “Is the sun going to come up tomorrow?”

That’s hardly a ringing endorsement for Minaya, whose actual power within the restraints of a reportedly tight budget has come under scrutiny in recent weeks — most notably when the Mets stood pat at last month’s non-waiver Trade Deadline. But it was, if nothing else, an indication that the Mets are not looking to do anything drastic in the coming weeks or months — at least not within the front office.

Minaya is under contract through the 2012 season at more than $1 million per year.

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6 Comments

WE NEED A WAKE UP! CALL “THATS MEAN” WE NEED TO START FIRE SOMEBODY.. MY ELECTION THIS TIME IS “HOJO” WHERE IS THE OFFENSIVE…NO MATTER WHAT IS ONE OF OUR PITCHERS THROW A 1 ONE RUN GAME WE GONE A LOOSE 1-0 … BYE BYE HOJO MR. WILPON PLEASE WAKE UP WE TIRE TO BE A LOOSER TEAM AND I RECCOMEND TO ALL THE FANS STOP VISTI CITI FIELD!!!

OPEN LETTER TO FRED WILPON_
As a lifelong, die-hard Mets fan of nearly 40 years, I have suffered through my share of unproductive, disappointing and down right ugly seasons rooting for my beloved team. I came of baseball-age during the dreary mid- late 70s when the best thing about the team was the catchy “Meet The Mets” theme song. Then I watched the 90s horror show as we threw huge amounts of money at under-achievers like Bobby Bonilla, Bret Saberhagen and Vince Coleman- “The worst team money could buy.”. And still we patiently waiting year after year for you and the revolving door of GMs and managers to put together a winner 24 years since our last world series.

But after reading your comments in the New York Post this week supporting Omar Minaya and making the ridiculous statement that everyone knows what a “great job” your son is doing, I am finally putting my foot down and saying “enough!”. As of today I am starting an official boycot of the Mets- I am cancelling my MLB subscription, I will no longer attend games at Citifield and I will not watch another Mets game this season. And I will hope every Met
fan will do the same. The boycott will continue until you finally right the ship and make the changes that we all see so desperately need to be taken.

For starters, it’s time to fire Minaya and Manuel, dump or trade Castillo and Perez. Yes it will cost you a large sum of money, but the cost is nothing compared to the eroding fan base you will face if you don’t take strong action, send a message and revamp this once proud organization. Believe me I speak for all fans when I tell you we would rather watch a group of hungry rookies than this lifeless group of underachievers that Minaya has assembled. It’s so obvious when you look at what Frank Cashen and Davey Johnson were able to achieve in the 80s that anything is possible with the right management team and right group of players in place. And let’s remember the 86 team was not about big salaries or mega stars. It was a brilliantly assembled and managed team.

After watching you and your top lieutenants run this franchise into the ground year after year, this is my (and hopefully others) way of saying that I will no longer waste my time, energy or money if you can’t even acknowledge that there are deep problems with your organization.

I think all Mets fans understand that not every team can be the Yankees, but after 4 horrendous seasons of blown games, uninspired play, inept moves and perhaps most aggravating- no acknowledgment from you or anyone in your organization that the wheels have come off the bus- it’s time for every Met fan to stand up and stop enabling you.

What will it take? Last place? 20 more years without a world series. I loathe to say it but the much reviled George Steinbrenner never would have let his team or his fans flounder like this. The fact that Omar Minaya, Jeff Wilpon and Jerry Manuel all still have their jobs is completely unacceptable and sends a clear message that no one is accountable. And you deserve you’re share of blame as you have sat by as virtually no moves were made this past winter. Did you really believe that Ollie Perez, John Maine, Rod Barajas Luis Castillo, Jeff Franceour and Dan Murphy could lead us back to the top after last season’s debacle? Did you not read the reports about Jason Bay from the Red Sox before you threw $60 million after a decent outfielder? And when you had an opportunity again in June and July to be proactive and strengthen the team (No, Cliff Lee or Oswalt wouldn’t have helped!) what did Omar do? Nothing. Nada, Zilch. Not one move. Are the Phillies, Rangers and Yankees so much smarter, savvier, more resourceful than you? Guess after 24 years we all know the answer.

Now we must watch day after day as this travesty continues. The bad plays. The blown games. The daily wilting under pressure as we sink further and further in the standings. And Manuel and Minaya continue to act like there’s absolutely nothing wrong. If I have to read one more of their completelty inept and delusional quotes I’m going to scream. Well the truth is we don’t have to take any of it anymore. We can just say NO. We can choose to turn it off and get our lives and dignity back.
So as of today I encourage all fans to join me in an official boycott of the Mets. And until you prove you are serious about the situation we will simply turn off the Mets and not spend another dime on the team until you make a serious attempt to make some concrete moves, right the ship and salvage this team. I do this not to be funny or vindictive. I do it because I care about the future of my team and I want you and your son to understand that the people who pay the tickets, buy the merchandise, watch the games religiously, and suffer through countless hours of bad baseball on television and online, don’t have to continue to condone what you have done, or more importantly what you haven’t done. Yes it takes money, but more importantly it takes good baseball people who can make smart baseball decisions. And it’s crystal clear to all of us who follow this team with every ounce of our heart and soul that you simply don’t have those people in place.

I have two young children who this year I have begun to pass on my love of baseball and my beloved team to them. I payed $300 to take them to Citifield and watched as they cheered on David Wright. I bought them their first Mets shirts and hats and smile when they ask me everyday how many games out of first place we are. But even they are starting to get frustrated. And after having to suffer through the last four years I am seriously considering turning them into Nationals, Marlins or God forbid Phillies fans so I can save them from a life of disgust, frustration and disappointment that every Met fan has unfortunately grown far too accustomed to. I want to pass on my love and passion for my team to my kids, but after the last few years Mr. Wilpon you are making it very tough.

I NEVER write letters to the papers, corporations or politicians. In fact it’s the first time I have done so in my life. I do not write this letter to be snarky or to “vent.” I do it because I have invested nearly 40 years of my life in this team and it’s simply too painful to continue to watch what has happened these past few years continue. And this is my way of standing up and saying that we Mets fans will no longer just sit by and let our beloved Mets to fall further and further into oblivion and irrelevance.

Eliot has done a wonderful job in his letter – we hear the same foolish and ridiculous comments used by both Omar and Jerry over and over. And I’m tired of David Wrights comments – they have been exactly the same several times the last two years. I agree with Eliot the team and the front office are in complete disarray at this time and when they say we’re protecting our prospects – where are they? The Yanks and the Phillies make us look like amateurs in comparison.
Sincerely,
Bob S.
Carteret, N.J.

I have been writing to Omar Minaya for two years. I told him who I was and how I could help the Mets by working with them (for free)to correct some of the flaws in the swings of David Wright, Ike Davis,Francoeur and Bay. Mr Minaya didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to my offer,inspite of the fact that my knowledge of swing mechanics came from Ted Williams (1946). And was further developed over the years through a continued dialogue with Ted and in my Engineering Research that dealt with rotory motion and resulted in the discovery of one of the most significant scientific breakthrows,ever. That said, the Mets have one major problem that I commented on 2 years ago,the lack of a knowledgeable Batting Coach. HoJo is a nice guy,but knows little or nothing about the science of hitting and neither does Jerry Manuel or anybody else on the team.
Some of the critiques by Keith Hernandez, offer some very good insight to Wright’s problems but he offers no real solutions. I have the solutions and can easily correct what is being missed by seemingly everybody else.The continued inability of the Mets to mount a consistently strong offense, over the last two years, is the result of allowing these flawed batting mechanics to go uncorrected. It is simple a lack of knowledge. David Wright,who has great hand/eye coordination,should be a lifetime .340 hitter with 500 + HRs. But if he continues with his flaw,he will be lucky to have a lifetime average of ..275 which isn’t bad but no where where he should be. And his lifetime SOs/season will be in the 125 range. Incidently,last year I predicated Wright’s SOs for 2010 to exceed 150+ It is sad to watch him struggle, as he does, because he does not understand his problem or how to easily correct it. The other players mentioned also have flaws that could be easily corrected,but ,again, nobody is helping them with the knowledge needed to do so. I do not know what the Met’s management has in mind,but they better make some changes soon or the Met’s franchise is in serious jeopardy
of not surviving in New York.

I have been a Met fan since the beginning, suffered thru all
those lean years. The ’86 Mets were the greatest team be-
cause, as another has written, management. I think Minaya
is the worst GM we have ever had, & the Wilpons know nothing about owning a ML team. Eat the 2 mil left on his
contract. I also agree that Hojo is a great guy, but not a great batting coach–No offense. Also, there is no spark on
this team, & that comes from the mgr & his staff. Us fans will
stick with the Mets if we see some positive progress. Look at the Braves. A few lean years, & now they are back.
I also will not go to another Met game as long as this “do nothing regime stays in place”, & I have 2 grandsons who are big Met fans. Fred Wilpon, you built a beautiful stadium, but it won’t look beautiful if it is empty. Look at what happened to Camden Yard.
Make the necessary changes, or suffer the consequences.

Forget about firing anybody what the team needs to do is hire more scouts and start to do a better job developing or drafting young players. When was the last time the Mets developed a Power Hitter from within except for Strawberry and maybe Davis but they were number one picks; who else? their drafting is obviously bad in comparison to the Phillies, Angels, Red Sox and Yankees. However the bigger problem is the park is too big. I figure for 44 out of the 48 years the Mets have been around they have stunk. Shea was a pitchers park and what did it get the Mets? Nothing, bring the fences in all of the way around make it so they can hit home runs, fans would much rather see a team (like the Yankees and Phillies) hit home runs instead of playing a 1 run game enough, what the heck were they thinking when they built that place, I never feel they can come back from being down a few runs, so for the next 75 years we have to have crappy offense. Bring the fences in and you can probably add box seats in parts of the outfield to get fans closer to the field at the same time and you can charge the usual million for them, so it should be a no-brainer-BRING THE FENCES IN AND MAKE IT EASIER TO HIT IT OUT!!!!
Phil

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